The problem with defining this format by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
With just those 5 he probably could have played boros instead. Gideon can win many games by itself.
His commons and uncommons outside of Simic were terrible. His only playable red card was a single Madcap Skills, he had very few aggressive creatures, almost no removal...
He seriously considered playing Boros, but it didn't work out.
The problem with defining this format by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
I just got back from my local prerelease and I took 1st place! It was my first time going undefeated in a prerelease! People clapped for me at the end when they found out that Dimir won it. Went 6-0, won 26 packs.
I never really expected to do well, I just didn't want to be one of the many (I assumed) to pick Boros. I fought every guild save Gruul. Milling was a great 'plan B,' but most often, I won by small bits of damage while controlling the board.
Best cards: Soul Ransom. Either choice was bad for the opponent. Especially good with a sac outlet. (Black wall) Consuming Aberration. If it stuck, I won. Period. Basilica Screecher. Did serious work for the deck. Nice cypher target. Balustrade Spy. Always did something good for my deck. Never a dead draw. Hands of Binding. Best cypher card hands down.
Boros won and dominated the top 8 at both pre releases I attended, followed by Orzhov. My brother managed 3rd with a Simic deck, but even he said he had some pretty good luck. As far as the poor balancing, I totally agree. In fact, I saw one Dimir player who played Naya with his pool and did pretty well after he switched. Also, pack distribution seems to be an issue (nothing new here though, it's the reason I'm never buying another box of product ever again). A friend of mine who was building across from me (we were both Orzhov), pulled 2x Obzedat, Ghost Council plus Merciless Eviction plus High Priest of Penance. And I saw someone else on here posting about pulling 2x Obzedat as well. In that same pre release, I pulled 2x Crypt Ghast. The previous one, all 8 Boros players had a Legion Loyalist. A guy pulled 2x Gideons in that one too. It just seemed like really poor distribution.
I went 1-2 and dropped to draft. My friend went 7-0 only losing 3 games playing Orzhov. Apparently 14 spot removals is not bad in a deck. Especially when you have 4 Grisly Spectacle.
Seems Wizards did an absolutely atrocious job balancing for this pre-release.
I take you had a bad time?
My local seemed to be pretty well balanced with a couple stand out decks. One of which the kid used to take 1st. He didn't have any big bombs or really stand out rares. His was a Boros that started dropping 3/2's turn 2 and his curve was excellent. Other than him every game I played win or lose was very close. And from the games I watched none of them were real blow outs.
Did anyone else feel that Wizards didn't balance well enough? I'm interested in knowing if there was any other unbalanced tourneys?
I went 4-1-0 for 4th place with a Boros heavy Orzhov guild selection. Of 50+ people this was by far the best draft I ever had. My deck, which I thank others for consulting and construction help, demolished. My loss was due to variance -- even my chill opponent said it sucked to never see lands game 2
I played him again in another 3 or 4 friendly games and I crushed him. He finished 3rd and said I had the best deck in the room.
For the naysayers, extort is unbelievable. I mean wow brutal. Alms Beast is also a disgusting card. You bully people. And Boros Charm is one of the best limited cards in a while. Charm + extort is insane
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That which nourishes me, destroys me
10th at SCG: Syracuse (2014), GP:NJ Last-Chance Grinder Winner (2014):: Former Legacy Mod
I mean, hell, we're all on a forum for something that most people would describe as a "children's card game"...do what makes you happy. You are never too old to enjoy yourself.
I went 1-2 and dropped to draft. My friend went 7-0 only losing 3 games playing Orzhov. Apparently 14 spot removals is not bad in a deck. Especially when you have 4 Grisly Spectacle.
Fourteen!! Wow. You almost don't need to play creatures at that point.
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Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
Our shop was almost all Boros. I went 2-2 with Simic first pool losing to Orzhov and another Simic, then 3-1 with Boros losing only to another Boros. Orzhov and Simic were competitive; Gruul was a bit weak, and the few Dimir decks were treated like chew toys.
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New Webcomic -- Genocide Man Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass slaughter can be hilarious.
I played Boros in two pre-releases, and feel that afterwards is by far the strongest deck if your sealed pool can support it. I do wonder if it can keep the same power level relative to the other guilds in draft though.
The first pre-release was won by a Dimir splashing white (Frontline Medic, Blind Obedience, and Merciless Eviction). I came in second due to tiebreaks with him, while third was another Boros and fourth was Gruul. My first Boros deck had Aurelia, Domri Rade, and Stomping Ground, so it built itself. (Funny story: the first event had 16 players of whom 4 played Boros and we all pulled Aurelia in our guild pack).
The second pre-release was another small event of about 16 players. I played Boros again but with no splash this time. I ran 20 creatures including another Aurelia, Foundry Champion, and Firemane Angel. I finished first and only lost once to a topdecked Clan Defiance against a Gruul player dead on board. Second was Simic, third was Dimir and fourth was Boros.
I think right now it's Boros/Gruul > Orzhov (Simic? > Dimir. Format wants to be aggressive and Boros/Gruul do that. If Orzhov stabilizes, extort is gamewinning and also the best mechanic. I wasn't too impressed with cipher but milling does seem viable with the right deck. Simic was a wildcard to me because the evolve creatures virtually had Suspend 1 or 2 against me but were impactful when they did grow a bit.
I went 5-0-1 and got first at our 92 man event. I opened a simic guildpack but got absolute crap in blue so I went Boros splashing green. The guy who I drew with in the last round was straight dimir with a ton of removal. I won 19 packs, but have only opened one. Of the guildpack and one extra pack I have opened no money so far.
I played Orzhov and it was incredible. To begin with I splashed blue for Duskmantle Seer, but cut it again after game two. Met a lot of Boros opponents. Matches went something like this:
Game 1 vs Boros:
He played straight boros agro, splashing in some extort guys for late game reach. Went 1-1, then went to time with no clear winner.
Game 2 vs Orzhov:
0-2 loss. He pulled an Obzedat which destroyed me both games. I managed to get rid of it the second game, but he used the prerelease promo to get it back and finish me off. Such a powerful card.
Game 3 vs Dimir:
He went the mill plan, but it didnt really work out in the end. Second game he mulliganed to 6, bumped into the mana screw and conceded. 2-0.
Game 4 and 5 vs Simic:
Not much to say here. Both decks consisted mostly of small creatures abusing the evolve mechanic. In game 4 my opponent landed a Zegana and drew 7, but luckily I had lethal on the following turn. 2-0 both matches. Simic was probably the easiest matchup I had all night. Shame, looked really fun to play though.
Game 6 vs Boros, splashing extort and green for Borborygmos:
I lost the first game. He had two Syndic of the Tithes and he won the extort war in the end. Really fun game, with lots of swingy lifedraining. Won the last two. First game going control, killing him with a couple of weenies with removal in hand. Second game I carefully took out his Syndics and won the extort war. 2-1
Game 7 vs Boros.
Won this one 2-0. Second game he cast an Aurelia and brought me down to 7 life. Through luck and preserverance I managed to take him down with 1 life remaining. 2-0
I ended up going 5-1-1 in the Swiss and made top 8 in 6th place, (61 players attending).
In the draft portion I went Boros with a small green splash for Biomass Mutation. No idea how to draft this format I got lucky and pulled a Boros Charm and the R/W enchantment that makes tokens. Those two cards had a big hand in winning me the first game 2-0 against another boros player.
In the Semifinals I ran into a Gruul deck which totally dominated me. The same guy ended up winning the whole thing, so congratulations to him Overall I ended up tied at third place and won 9 boosters.
Regarding sealed, I didnt pull a lot of ridiculous bombs, and my deck ended up being a white weenie extort deck with 6-7 assorted removal spells. I had three rares maindeck: Frontline Medic, (So good, you´d be amazed how much a cheap hillgiant can do in this format, even without batalion). High Priest of Penance, (Strong card and difficult to play around it seemed), and the promoTreasury Thrull which adds a lot to the late game survival plan, (is also the card that won me the game vs the last boros player).
My sealed decklist:
2 x Dutiful Thrull
1 x Syndic of Tithes
1 x Cartel Aristocrat
1 x High Priest of Penance
2 x Basilica Guards
1 x Undercity Informer
1 x Frontline Medic
1 x Kingpin´s Pet
2 x Assault Griffin
1 x Treasury Thrull
1 x Death´s Approach
1 x Devour Flesh
1 x Executioner´s Swing
2 x Grisly Spectacle
1 x One Thousand Lashes
1 x Angelic Edict
1 x Aerial Maneuver
1 x Purge the Profane
1 x Knight Watch
1 x Orzhov Guildgate
8 x Swamp
8 x Plains
The best cards ended up being Purge the Profane (Against Boros), One Thousand Lashes (won a lot of my matches with this card), Syndic of Tithes (Increadibly strong bear) and Basilica Guards. The Dutiful Thrulls also did a surprising amount of damage for a one drop. Also Frontline Medic and High Priest of Penance are deceptivly powerful. Who needs bombs when the weenies are this good? Extort is incredible, especially against boros. It allows you to keep odd hands since your end game is so good. For me, probably the best new mechanic of the set.
I played in 2 tournaments yesterday. First I played Simic. I didn't open great stuff, and I went 1-2. Then I dropped and entered the next tournament. I wanted to try new colors, so it would either be Boros or Orzhov. So many people were going Boros at this point, that I tried Orzhov. I ended up with a stupid amount of removal and plenty of Extort guys. I went 4-1. My only loss came against a friend of mine playing Gruul who managed to cast Clan Defiance all three games. Not good times. I think all three flights at my shop were won by Boros. I was very happy with Orzhov though.
On Saturday I played in two events. For the first one I played Orzhov and went undefeated. I can't say how good Orzhov really is, though, because my pool was pretty nuts. I pulled 5 Grisly Spectacle and 4 other good removal spells, so it was hard to lose.
For the second event I played Boros. My pool was nothing crazy, just very solid with a good curve. I only lost one match, which was due to being horribly mana screwed after multiple mulls in both games. I'm certain I would have won if I had only drawn a couple more lands. In my other 3 matches I smashed my opponents in 2 each time. It wasn't even close for those matches, and I won in about 10 minutes each time (5 minutes per game).
Toss in a couple extort bears and Skynight Legionnaire's and I had myself a deck. also got 3 on color gates for splashing and a Prophetic Prisim. Didn't come close to losing a game.
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"What's a dead man but a live man without any life?" --- Tom Servo
No, your anime sig is NOT cool.
Currently Playing:
Modern - R/G Tron
Standard - RDW
1. Boros
2. Gruul
3. Orzhov with a splash of I forget
And I believe a few other Boros for the rest
Second prerelease
1. Boros
2. Boros (me!!!)
3. Gruul
4. Boros
Basically, Boros deciminated almost everything. Gruul can occassionally do alright, but it isn't as fast as Boros so it isn't as good. Ozhov can occassionally do alright if it has enough removal and early blockers, but that rarely happens.
Simic and Dimir were absolutely horrible.
Good to know I was spot on about my prediction of blue being trash.
I finished 4/60 with Simic splashing Clan Defiance (That card is the nuts especially with Gyre Sage!) The winner from our pre-release was Gruul splashing simic for Master Biomancer and also had Clan Defiance and a really fast curve (was my only game loss)
But Simic played quite well in our Pre-release i think 3 out of the top 8 had base simic.
My wife and I both went 4-0 with Boros at the prerelease. It seemed that the top decks were mostly Boros or Orzhov, with a few of the other guilds here and there. But Boros is definitely the strongest.
Went 4-0 as Simic and won my pod at the local prerelease. For some reason I played against 3 Dimir and 1 Boros. I had a lot of good red in my pool, so my deck ended up being RUG.
Hands of Binding was my MVP, allowing me to stabilize against Boros and outrace Dimir. (For some reason my Dimir opponents didn't have any of them - lucky me.) Fathom Mage was way too slow in the games I played, though maybe it would do well vs Orzhov. Alpha Authority can be pretty clutch on a creature you've Evolved two or three times, or on an evasive creature attached to a Hands of Binding.
His rares?
Gyre Sage (from the guild pack)
Frontline Medic
Assemble the Legion
Assemble the Legion
Gideon, Champion of Justice
Gideon, Champion of Justice
Everyone else at his table was playing Orzhov or Boros, and they were all like "WHAT THE ACTUAL ****"
Anyway, he went 1-3.
Crypt Ghast is really, really good.
His commons and uncommons outside of Simic were terrible. His only playable red card was a single Madcap Skills, he had very few aggressive creatures, almost no removal...
He seriously considered playing Boros, but it didn't work out.
I just got back from my local prerelease and I took 1st place! It was my first time going undefeated in a prerelease! People clapped for me at the end when they found out that Dimir won it. Went 6-0, won 26 packs.
My deck:
9 Swamp
6 Island
2 Dimir Guildgate
1 Cloudfin Raptor
1 Diluvian Primordial
1 Incursion Specialist
1 Mindeye Drake
1 Basilica Screecher
3 Balustrade Spy
1 Corpse Blockade
1 Sepulchral Primordial
1 Shadow Alley Denizen
1 Bane Alley Broker
1 Consuming Aberration
1 Deathcult Rogue
3 Death's Approach
1 Midnight Recovery
1 Dimir Charm
1 Mind Grind
1 Psychic Strike
1 Soul Ransom
I never really expected to do well, I just didn't want to be one of the many (I assumed) to pick Boros. I fought every guild save Gruul. Milling was a great 'plan B,' but most often, I won by small bits of damage while controlling the board.
Best cards:
Soul Ransom. Either choice was bad for the opponent. Especially good with a sac outlet. (Black wall)
Consuming Aberration. If it stuck, I won. Period.
Basilica Screecher. Did serious work for the deck. Nice cypher target.
Balustrade Spy. Always did something good for my deck. Never a dead draw.
Hands of Binding. Best cypher card hands down.
WUControlWU
Commander (EDH)
WBRKaalia of the VastWBR
WRGMayael the AnimaWRG
I take you had a bad time?
My local seemed to be pretty well balanced with a couple stand out decks. One of which the kid used to take 1st. He didn't have any big bombs or really stand out rares. His was a Boros that started dropping 3/2's turn 2 and his curve was excellent. Other than him every game I played win or lose was very close. And from the games I watched none of them were real blow outs.
Did anyone else feel that Wizards didn't balance well enough? I'm interested in knowing if there was any other unbalanced tourneys?
I played him again in another 3 or 4 friendly games and I crushed him. He finished 3rd and said I had the best deck in the room.
For the naysayers, extort is unbelievable. I mean wow brutal. Alms Beast is also a disgusting card. You bully people. And Boros Charm is one of the best limited cards in a while. Charm + extort is insane
10th at SCG: Syracuse (2014), GP:NJ Last-Chance Grinder Winner (2014):: Former Legacy Mod
Fourteen!! Wow. You almost don't need to play creatures at that point.
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic
Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass slaughter can be hilarious.
The first pre-release was won by a Dimir splashing white (Frontline Medic, Blind Obedience, and Merciless Eviction). I came in second due to tiebreaks with him, while third was another Boros and fourth was Gruul. My first Boros deck had Aurelia, Domri Rade, and Stomping Ground, so it built itself. (Funny story: the first event had 16 players of whom 4 played Boros and we all pulled Aurelia in our guild pack).
The second pre-release was another small event of about 16 players. I played Boros again but with no splash this time. I ran 20 creatures including another Aurelia, Foundry Champion, and Firemane Angel. I finished first and only lost once to a topdecked Clan Defiance against a Gruul player dead on board. Second was Simic, third was Dimir and fourth was Boros.
I think right now it's Boros/Gruul > Orzhov (Simic? > Dimir. Format wants to be aggressive and Boros/Gruul do that. If Orzhov stabilizes, extort is gamewinning and also the best mechanic. I wasn't too impressed with cipher but milling does seem viable with the right deck. Simic was a wildcard to me because the evolve creatures virtually had Suspend 1 or 2 against me but were impactful when they did grow a bit.
Game 1 vs Boros:
He played straight boros agro, splashing in some extort guys for late game reach. Went 1-1, then went to time with no clear winner.
Game 2 vs Orzhov:
0-2 loss. He pulled an Obzedat which destroyed me both games. I managed to get rid of it the second game, but he used the prerelease promo to get it back and finish me off. Such a powerful card.
Game 3 vs Dimir:
He went the mill plan, but it didnt really work out in the end. Second game he mulliganed to 6, bumped into the mana screw and conceded. 2-0.
Game 4 and 5 vs Simic:
Not much to say here. Both decks consisted mostly of small creatures abusing the evolve mechanic. In game 4 my opponent landed a Zegana and drew 7, but luckily I had lethal on the following turn. 2-0 both matches. Simic was probably the easiest matchup I had all night. Shame, looked really fun to play though.
Game 6 vs Boros, splashing extort and green for Borborygmos:
I lost the first game. He had two Syndic of the Tithes and he won the extort war in the end. Really fun game, with lots of swingy lifedraining. Won the last two. First game going control, killing him with a couple of weenies with removal in hand. Second game I carefully took out his Syndics and won the extort war. 2-1
Game 7 vs Boros.
Won this one 2-0. Second game he cast an Aurelia and brought me down to 7 life. Through luck and preserverance I managed to take him down with 1 life remaining. 2-0
I ended up going 5-1-1 in the Swiss and made top 8 in 6th place, (61 players attending).
In the draft portion I went Boros with a small green splash for Biomass Mutation. No idea how to draft this format I got lucky and pulled a Boros Charm and the R/W enchantment that makes tokens. Those two cards had a big hand in winning me the first game 2-0 against another boros player.
In the Semifinals I ran into a Gruul deck which totally dominated me. The same guy ended up winning the whole thing, so congratulations to him Overall I ended up tied at third place and won 9 boosters.
Regarding sealed, I didnt pull a lot of ridiculous bombs, and my deck ended up being a white weenie extort deck with 6-7 assorted removal spells. I had three rares maindeck: Frontline Medic, (So good, you´d be amazed how much a cheap hillgiant can do in this format, even without batalion). High Priest of Penance, (Strong card and difficult to play around it seemed), and the promoTreasury Thrull which adds a lot to the late game survival plan, (is also the card that won me the game vs the last boros player).
My sealed decklist:
2 x Dutiful Thrull
1 x Syndic of Tithes
1 x Cartel Aristocrat
1 x High Priest of Penance
2 x Basilica Guards
1 x Undercity Informer
1 x Frontline Medic
1 x Kingpin´s Pet
2 x Assault Griffin
1 x Treasury Thrull
1 x Death´s Approach
1 x Devour Flesh
1 x Executioner´s Swing
2 x Grisly Spectacle
1 x One Thousand Lashes
1 x Angelic Edict
1 x Aerial Maneuver
1 x Purge the Profane
1 x Knight Watch
1 x Orzhov Guildgate
8 x Swamp
8 x Plains
The best cards ended up being Purge the Profane (Against Boros), One Thousand Lashes (won a lot of my matches with this card), Syndic of Tithes (Increadibly strong bear) and Basilica Guards. The Dutiful Thrulls also did a surprising amount of damage for a one drop. Also Frontline Medic and High Priest of Penance are deceptivly powerful. Who needs bombs when the weenies are this good? Extort is incredible, especially against boros. It allows you to keep odd hands since your end game is so good. For me, probably the best new mechanic of the set.
For the second event I played Boros. My pool was nothing crazy, just very solid with a good curve. I only lost one match, which was due to being horribly mana screwed after multiple mulls in both games. I'm certain I would have won if I had only drawn a couple more lands. In my other 3 matches I smashed my opponents in 2 each time. It wasn't even close for those matches, and I won in about 10 minutes each time (5 minutes per game).
Removal:
2x Mugging
Pit Fight
Arrows of Justice
Clan Defiance
Bombs:
Boros Recokoner
Firemane Avenger
Gideon, Champion of Justice
Foundry Champion
Toss in a couple extort bears and Skynight Legionnaire's and I had myself a deck. also got 3 on color gates for splashing and a Prophetic Prisim. Didn't come close to losing a game.
No, your anime sig is NOT cool.
Currently Playing:
Modern - R/G Tron
Standard - RDW
Here is what I can remember from the winners.
First prerelease:
1. Boros
2. Gruul
3. Orzhov with a splash of I forget
And I believe a few other Boros for the rest
Second prerelease
1. Boros
2. Boros (me!!!)
3. Gruul
4. Boros
Basically, Boros deciminated almost everything. Gruul can occassionally do alright, but it isn't as fast as Boros so it isn't as good. Ozhov can occassionally do alright if it has enough removal and early blockers, but that rarely happens.
Simic and Dimir were absolutely horrible.
Good to know I was spot on about my prediction of blue being trash.
But Simic played quite well in our Pre-release i think 3 out of the top 8 had base simic.
1x Diluvian Primordial
2x Hands of Binding
1x Elusive Krasis
1x Armored Transport
1x Crocanura
1x Nimbus Swimmer
1x Fathom Mage
1x Cloudfin Raptor
1x Alpha Authority
1x Shambleshark
1x Burst of Strength
1x Greenside Watcher
1x Act of Treason
2x Towering Thunderfist
1x Arrows of Justice
1x Rubblebelt Raiders
1x Crowned Ceratok
1x Adaptive Snapjaw
1x Prophetic Prism
1x Gruul Keyrune
1x Breeding Pool
1x Simic Guildgate
7x Forest
5x Island
2x Mountain
Hands of Binding was my MVP, allowing me to stabilize against Boros and outrace Dimir. (For some reason my Dimir opponents didn't have any of them - lucky me.) Fathom Mage was way too slow in the games I played, though maybe it would do well vs Orzhov. Alpha Authority can be pretty clutch on a creature you've Evolved two or three times, or on an evasive creature attached to a Hands of Binding.
2nd place: Mono Boros
3rd place: Boros splash Orzhov
...
7th place: Simic splash Gruul (me)
30-ish people, about 8 Orzhov, 8 Boros, 8 Simic, 3 Gruul, 3 Dimir iirc.